Female couple expelled from Mayoral candidate's church for "disruption"

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr. has some explaining to do.

Two women reported a disturbing story to me about their visit to last Sunday's morning worship service at New Olivet Baptist Church in Memphis that was also reported in this morning's Commercial Appeal. Yas Meen and Monique Stevens, a couple, decided to visit New Olivet to learn more about Whalum. Yas, a retired school teacher, admired Whalum’s passionate support for public education and considered supporting his candidacy for Memphis Mayor. Whalum currently serves on the Memphis City Schools’ Board of Education.

Yas and Monique visited New Olivet for the first time. They had heard that people are encouraged to “come-as-you-are” to the church. Many people wear casual clothes to worship there. On this particular morning, they observed several young men wearing basketball jerseys. Yas wore a dress while Monique wore a pair of slacks to the service that morning - dressier than many in the congregation. However, Yas and Monique felt a little uncomfortable when they entered and sat in the front pew after the service had started. They began to notice looks of disapproval from members of the congregation. The reason would become all too clear to them.

As the service progressed, Pastor Whalum called on the congregation to participate in expressions of “sanctified dance.” Congregants followed Whalum’s lead and began to fill the aisle. Some danced while other lay on the floor in prayer. As visitors, the style of worship was new to Yas and Monique, so they decided to remain seated and observe.

That’s when events turned for the worse. From the front of the church, the two women alleged that Whalum said “this is my house and everybody does what I say. But two people won’t do what I say.” After Whalum’s plea, Yas and Monique remained seated. When Monique extended her arm along the pew behind Yas, the congregation’s focus on the couple intensified.

Yas described what happened next:

[A] security guard asked us to leave because we were disturbing God's House. I asked what had we done to disturb God's House. He could not give me an answer. He just said you two need to leave. He informed us that he had called the police. I told him because I did not clearly understand what was going on, we will just wait for the police. That's when the herd of men gathered around to physically remove us from God's House! While this was going on, the church's photographer was taking pictures of Monique and I. We begged them to stop taking pictures of us. She continued and when she finished, she blew us a kiss and said God Bless You!

Under the watchful eyes of Pastor Whalum, children taunted the two ladies and women began to throw oil on them. A group of men gathered around them, calling them “bitches”, “Satanic,” and “devil worshipers.” They were told that they were dishonoring God’s House. Finally, a group of 25 young men began physically and violently pushing the two ladies out of the church. Monique’s glasses were broken and both suffered scratches and bruises.

During the incident, the church called the police because Yas and Monique had been “disruptive.” Yaz:

found it so strange how the security guard could not give us the reason, when the situation happened, of how we were disruptive until the police asked him, which was almost 45 minutes to an hour after the event. That's when he told us along with the police, that it was because Monique had extended her arm along the back of the pew seat right next to [me].

Yas and Monique may file assault charges against members of the church who put hands on them.

As this violent crime unfolded, Pastor Whalum said nothing and did nothing to intervene. As someone who wants to be the next Mayor of Memphis, Pastor Whalum has some explaining to do. Does Whalum condone violence toward gays and lesbians? Will he condone such behavior toward gays and lesbians among citizens and employees of the City Memphis? If this is how Whalum treats potential supporters, how will he treat his opponents? Is this the kind of leadership Memphis can expect from him as a Mayor?